Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Here is The Qwillery's list of books, etc. being published in November 2012. If there is something that I've missed, please leave a comment below. Any genre mistakes are mine. Leave a comment below if you feel that the genre is wrong. Also note that this list is always under revision. Publication dates change. I try to keep this as accurate as possible. The most accurate lists can be found for each week in The View From Monday posts.

Please welcome Simone St. James to The Qwillery! Simone is sharing some of the books that scare her! Happy Halloween!!

Some of My Top Scary Reads

This is the time of year for a lot of things – pumpkin spice, the smell of leaves, and, apparently, major hurricane monster-storms – but mostly, for me, it’s the time of year for reading scary books.

In honor of the season, here are some of my top scary reads:

The Woman in Black by Susan Hill. There is just no contest on this one – I have lost count of how many times I’ve read it, and it never fails to scare the absolute bejabbers out of me. A lean, tiny little novel, with nothing between the pages but pure scariness. Apparently Susan Hill’s assistant couldn’t be home alone while she was typing the manuscript, and I don’t blame her one bit. (Also: The movie, starring Daniel Radcliffe, was completely awesome.)

Bag of Bones by Stephen King. King is my favorite writer, so it’s impossible to choose a favorite. Still, he doesn’t often write pure ghost stories like this one. It’s creepy – the basement, the fridge magnets, oh my god – but it’s also sad, and there is an event near the end that, were I ever to meet Mr. King, would cause me to have words with him. None of that stops me from reading this book over and over. It’s an overlooked classic.

The Terror by Dan Simmons. Unlike the other books on this list, I admit that I have read this one only once, and have spent quite a bit of time ramping up the gumption to read it again. Simmons took the real history of the infamous Franklin expedition in the 1800’s – which vanished, scarily enough – and made it even more frightening. I’m not going to tell you how; I’ll just warn you that this is one terrifying book. It’s sitting on my shelf right now, staring at me, daring me to pick it up again.

Dracula by Bram Stoker. “The sight seemed to paralyse me, and the shovel turned in my hand and glanced from the face, merely making a deep gash above the forehead. The shovel fell from my hand across the box, and as I pulled it away the flange of the blade caught the edge of the lid, which fell over again, and hid the horrid thing from my sight. The last glimpse I had was of the bloated face, bloodstained and fixed with a grin of malice which would have held its own in the nethermost hell.”
Yeah, that’s why.

Special mentions – books I haven’t read:

It by Stephen King. I think this is the only King book I’ve never read, and I’m finally going to rectify this oversight. I plan to read it this winter.

The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan. I’m not sure how this series slipped past me, but for some reason I’ve never read it. Also going to be rectified this winter.

The Farm by Emily McKay. Another YA, this one will be released on December 4 – about teens after the vampire apocalypse. YA is just a goldmine of good stories these days, and I can’t wait for this one.

Your turn. What is your favorite scary read? What do you recommend I pick up – immediately?? I have a long, cold, dark season to fill up with great scary reads!

Sarah Piper's lonely, threadbare existence changes when her temporary agency sends her to assist a ghost hunter. Alistair Gellis-rich, handsome, scarred by World War I, and obsessed with ghosts- has been summoned to investigate the spirit of nineteen-year-old maid Maddy Clare, who is haunting the barn where she committed suicide. Since Maddy hated men in life, it is Sarah's task to confront her in death. Soon Sarah is caught up in a deperate struggle. For Maddy's ghost is real, she's angry, and she has powers that defy all reason. Can Sarah and Alistair's assistant, the rough, unsettling Matthew Ryder, discover who Maddy was, whereshe came from, and what is driving her desire for vengeance-before she destroys them all?

An Inquiry into Love and Death
NAL Trade, March 5, 2013
Trade Paperback and eBook, 368 pages

In 1920's England, a young woman searches for the truth behind her uncle’s mysterious death in a town haunted by a restless ghost…

Oxford student Jillian Leigh works day and night to keep up with her studies—so to leave at the beginning of the term is next to impossible. But after her uncle Toby, a renowned ghost hunter, is killed in a fall off a cliff, she must drive to the seaside village of Rothewell to pack up his belongings.

Almost immediately, unsettling incidents—a book left in a cold stove, a gate swinging open on its own—escalate into terrifying events that convince Jillian an angry spirit is trying to enter the house. Is it Walking John, the two-hundred-year-old ghost who haunts Blood Moon Bay? And who beside the ghost is roaming the local woods at night? If Toby uncovered something sinister, was his death no accident?

The arrival of handsome Scotland Yard inspector Drew Merriken, a former RAF pilot with mysteries of his own, leaves Jillian with more questions than answers—and with the added complication of a powerful, mutual attraction. Even as she suspects someone will do anything to hide the truth, she begins to discover spine-chilling secrets that lie deep within Rothewell…and at the very heart of who she is.

Simone St. James wrote her first ghost story, about a haunted library, when she was in high school. Unaware that real people actually became writers, she pursued a career behind the scenes in the television business. She lives just outside Toronto, Canada, where she writes in her spare time and lives with her husband and three spoiled cats.

What: One commenter will win a copy of The Haunting of Maddy Clare and another commenter will win an ARC of An Inquiry into Love and Death from Simone! US/CANADA ONLY

How: Answer Simone's questions:

What is your favorite scary read? What do you recommend I pick up – immediately??

Please remember - if you don't answer the question your entry will not be counted.

You may receive additional entries by:

1) Being a Follower of The Qwillery.

2) Mentioning the giveaway on Facebook and/or Twitter. Even if you mention the giveaway on both, you will get only one additional entry. You get only one additional entry even if you mention the giveaway on Facebook and/or Twitter multiple times.

There are a total of 3 entries you may receive: Comment (1 entry), Follower (+1 entry) and Facebook and/or Twitter (+ 1 entry). This is subject to change again in the future for future giveaways.

Please leave links for Facebook or Twitter mentions. You MUST leave a way to contact you.

Who and When: The contest is open to all humans on the planet earth with a US or Canadian mailing address. Contest ends at 11:59pm US Eastern Time on Wednesday, November 7, 2012. Void where prohibited by law. No purchase necessary. You must be 18 years old or older to enter.

Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Please welcome Lee Collins to The Qwillery as part of the 2012 Debut Author Challenge Interviews. Lee's debut, The Dead of Winter, is published today in the US and Canada and on November 1st in the United Kingdom. Happy Publication Day to Lee!

TQ: Welcome to The Qwillery!

Lee: Happy to be here!

TQ: What would you say is your most interesting writing quirk?

Lee: For me, writing isn’t best when done while isolated from all stimuli. I need distractions to work at peak efficiency. Nothing too large (I don’t write best in the middle of a riot, for example), but I find I have much more difficulty getting a day’s worth of writing done without my girlfriend watching a show or playing a game in the same room.

TQ: Who are some of your favorite writers? Who do you feel has influenced your writing?

Lee: I grew up reading Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, and Frank Peretti, then moved on to Orson Scott Card, Terry Goodkind, and George R.R. Martin in high school. All of them had a say in how I learned to write, from the pace and structure of storytelling to the construction of sentences. Tolkien, Lewis, and Martin are still writers I read frequently, but I’ve recently added a lot of Stephen King (who was a forbidden author in my childhood), some Ursula K. le Guin and Connie Willis, and a smattering of newer writers like Paolo Bacigalupi and Saladin Ahmed to the mix.

TQ: Are you a plotter or a pantser?

Lee: I approach a novel like I approach planning a cross-country flight: get a good idea of where you want to end up, file a flight plan with the proper authorities, and let the wind blow you around a bit. If something stops working or catches fire, reevaluate where you want to land. Similarly, I get a good synopsis of the plot together but am open to emergency landings if need be. I don’t actually outline, though; too much work.

TQ: What is the most challenging thing for you about writing?

Lee: Coming up with ideas that I think would make good novels. I have no shortage of scenarios, characters, or worlds that seem interesting to me, but very few weather the months-long cogitation crucible required for me to seriously consider devoting that much time to them. I don’t like the idea of just starting a novel to see if it can sustain itself; I want to be reasonably sure it can hold together before I put a single word down. As a result, I don’t have a lot of half-finished novels lying around, but I don’t have an abundance of ideas I feel confident in pursuing, either.

TQ: Describe The Dead of Winter in 140 characters or less.

Lee: Old West bounty hunter Cora Oglesby must face her past if she is to overcome the unholy creatures lurking in the mines of Leadville.

TQ: What inspired you to write The Dead of Winter?

Lee: The character of Cora Oglesby was the spark. She began life as a Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning witch hunter in 2008, evolving into an Old West bounty hunter when I wrote her into a short story for a Western horror anthology Morpheus Tales was preparing. Sadly, the anthology never came together (although the story appeared as a regular feature in Morpheus Tales IX), but the character continued to grow in my imagination until I worked out a novel-length world for her to inhabit.

TQ: What sort of research did you do for The Dead of Winter?

Lee: I picked up a few books about frontier living and cowboy humor to get a feel for both the environment and characters that would surround Cora. Serendipity struck when I learned of Marten Duggan, who served as marshal of Leadville from 1878–1882; suddenly, I had a way to boost the historicity of the book while still having a critical role filled. I also had to do quite a bit of reading on how the different firearms of the period functioned, from calibers and loading to dates of manufacture for certain models.

TQ: What is the oddest bit of information that you came across in your research?

Lee: Apparently, Oscar Wilde stopped by Leadville during a tour of the United States and proclaimed that a sign begging saloon patrons not to shoot the pianist was “the only rational method of art criticism” he had ever come across. That factoid was just too good to leave out.

TQ: Tell us something about The Dead of Winter that is not in the book description.

Lee: Cora Oglesby’s original name was Miriam. Her name came to me as “Mad Madam Mim” when she first popped into my head, and that’s how I thought of her for three years. Her name changed to (the possibly more historically accurate) Cora when I signed with Angry Robot. They requested the name change so as not to cause confusion between my books and the fantastic protagonist Miriam Black of Chuck Wendig’s Blackbirds. Still, the name Miriam occasionally pops into my head when I think of the character.

TQ: Who was the easiest character to write and why? Hardest and why?

Lee: The Catholic priest Father Baez was the easiest for me to write. I based him on a colleague of mine at the university who is one of the kindest, quietest people I have ever met. Writing the scenes with this character was as simple as imagining how the real-life inspiration would handle a person like Cora Oglesby. On the other hand, my biggest challenge was Fodor Glava, the main antagonist. He’s a classic narcissistic villain, but I didn’t want him to become a cartoonish exaggeration of the trope. I tried to incorporate some development to explain why he views the world as he does.

TQ: Without giving anything away, what is/are your favorite scene(s) in The Dead of Winter?

Lee: The scene on the train when Cora first meets traveling Englishman James Townsend has always been a favorite of mine. It captures both Cora and Ben’s relationship as well as how she handles the strangers she meets in her travels.

TQ: What's next?

Lee: I’m currently working on research and a synopsis for a third book in the series, but I also have a science fantasy story set in Soviet Russia that is demanding more and more of my head space.

When the marshal of Leadville, Colorado, comes across a pair of
mysterious deaths, he turns to Cora to find the creature responsible.
But if Cora is to overcome the unnatural tide threatening to consume the
small town, she must first confront her own tragic past as well as her
present.

A stunning supernatural novel that will be quickly joined by a very welcome sequel, She Returns From War, in February 2013.

Lee Collins has spent his entire life in the shadow of the Rocky
Mountains. Despite this (or perhaps because of it), he generally prefers
to stay indoors reading and playing video games. As a child, he never
realized that he could create video games for a living, so he chose to
study creative writing at Colorado State University. Upon graduation, he
worked as an editorial intern for a local magazine before securing a
desk job with his alma mater.

Lee’s short fiction has appeared in Ensorcelled and Morpheus Tales,
the latter of which awarded him second place in a flash fiction
contest. In 2009, a friend challenged him to participate in National
Novel Writing Month, and the resulting manuscript became his debut
novel, The Dead of Winter. It will be published in 2012, and the sequel She Returns From War arrives in 2013.

In his spare minutes between writing and shepherding graduate students
at his day job, Lee still indulges in his oldest passions: books and
video games. He and his girlfriend live in Colorado with their imaginary
corgi Fubsy Bumble. You can track him down online via Facebook, Twitter, and Goodreads.

Terry: Definitely a seat of the pants writer. I do plan the hero and heroine first meeting. And I have to set some kind of goal and motivation for reaching that goal for the hero and heroine. But other than that? The characters set the tone of the story. They truly do decide what they’ve got to do next. One kind of character would handle a situation one way, another a completely different way. So it’s fun to see how they get out of the predicaments they get themselves into. Note: I did not say I did it!

TQ: What is the most challenging thing for you about writing?

Terry: It depends on the book. Sometimes it’s the beginning—I’m not getting the characters together fast enough, or there’s not enough conflict in the beginning. Sometimes I have more of a time figuring how I want to bring about a satisfying end. Sometimes I feel it needs more action, more forward movement, or more sexiness. So it really depends on the book! Sometimes all these things seem to gel without any effort on my part—and I LOVE that. That’s when the characters have totally taken over and write the book. It doesn’t happen often, but it’s sure fun when it does!

TQ: What sorts of research have you done for the Heart of the Jaguar series? What is the oddest bit of information that you’ve come across in your research?

Terry: There is so much about the Amazon I didn’t know! Or that any of us know, really! Even with working on Jaguar Fever, the second in the series where I set it partially in Belize, a lot of the rainforest hasn’t even been explored. Same with the millions of varieties of plants in the Amazon. I really enjoyed researching—reading up on the plant life, the animal life, true stories about visiting or living in the Amazon. I read about a boy who was about three years old who wandered away from his village and survived two days on his own before relatives finally found him! He was covered in prickly thorns (which I used in Savage Hunger—the thorns, not the child), and was dehydrated, but otherwise fine. Can you imagine? With venomous frogs, snakes, crocodiles, boa constrictors? He was a small meal waiting to happen! I’ve watched videos about the Amazon, about the jaguars, YouTube videos about jaguar behavior and visits to the Amazon, read blogs where visitors trekked through the jungle, spoke with a couple of people who had been there. Really fascinating place! But I couldn’t get one person from work to agree to go with me on a trip there! Scotland? I had several takers!

TQ: You've written many novels about werewolves. In your research for the Heart of the Jaguar series have you found any common traits between wolves and jaguars?

Terry: Wolves and jaguars are very different in that wolves are pack animals and jaguars are loners. Jaguars will take a couple of mates, their territories overlapping with his. Wolves mate for life. But wolves and jaguars are both territorial. Both are predators. Both take down the bigger prey. Each love to swim. The cats can climb trees, not the wolves. The cats blend into their surroundings because of their rosettes. Wolves blend into their surroundings to an extent also. Both use dens for their offspring. Wolves will fight others encroaching on their territory to the death. Jaguars might scrap, but they don’t fight much. Wolves are very vocal. Jaguars are not as much. Mostly because they call for mating and not to socialize with other jaguars, whereas wolves communicate to gather the pack, to mate, to mourn. So when I created the new shifter world, I had the challenge of making them like their jaguar cousins, but not so much that they couldn’t have a mate for life—a happily ever after.

TQ: Tell us something about Savage Hunger that is not in the book description.

Terry: Are you adventurous? Would you explore the Amazon? I find it fascinating to take a person and put them in an environment that is not truly theirs. It belongs to the wildlife that lives and dies there day in and day out. Kathleen McKnight has been to the jungle before on an Army mission, but she’s not from that part of the world. Connor Anderson, on the other hand, can blend in with the jungle, become one with it, is whole there—as a jaguar shifter. Two different people. Two different lifestyles. Can she learn to be like him?

TQ: Which character in Savage Hunger has surprised you the most?

Terry: Wade Patterson. I didn’t know how he was going to react about losing Kat to Connor. But he helped out all along the way, and he has some secrets of his own, which will be revealed in Jaguar Fever.

TQ: What's next?

Terry: I just finished up the second in the jaguar series, so if readers get hooked on Maya, Connor’s sister, and Wade Patterson, their story is next up in Jaguar Fever! That’s coming August 2013. Also, A SEAL Wolf Christmas, Oct 2013 will be featuring Bjornolf Jorgenson, hot SEAL, and Anna Johnson, the undercover operative he was sparring with in A SEAL in Wolf’s Clothing—if you didn’t have a chance to read it yet, it had to do with her stockings and tying her up—talk about putting them on the wrong side of the battle field from the beginning.

Now, it’s time to finally finish writing Tom’s story, Silence of the Wolf, the youngest Silver triplet from Destiny of the Wolf pack fame. I can’t wait to get back to that. After Savage Hunger though? We’ve got more of that wild Highland wolf pack of hunks, Feb 2013, Howl for a Highlander, featuring the youngest brother, Duncan; and May 2013, A Highland Werewolf Wedding, about Cearnach. I still need to share Guthrie’s story—the financial wizard for the pack. Which means? No goofing off for me! And lots more stories for you!

TQ: Thank you for joining us at The Qwillery.

Terry: Thanks so much for having me!! My question to readers: What would you do if you found a jungle cat who wasn’t all cat??

USA Today bestselling author Terry Spear has captured hearts worldwide by wrapping the realities of nature into the glorious romance of the wild. Now, she turns her award—winning imagination from the sexy werewolf hunt to the intense sizzle of jaguar shape-shifters.

As a jaguar he is graceful and gorgeous...

Speedy and stealthy...
Fierce, independent, and wild...

As a man he is passionate and powerful...

Willful and wonderful...
And he'll stop at nothing to protect what's his...

Terry Spear has written a couple of dozen paranormal romance novels and two medieval Highland historical romances. Her first werewolf romance, Heart of the Wolf, was named a 2008 Publishers Weekly’s Best Book of the Year, and her subsequent titles have garnered high praise and hit the USA Today bestseller list. A retired officer of the U.S. Army Reserves, Terry lives in Crawford, Texas, where she is working on her next werewolf romance and continuing her new series about shapeshifting jaguars. For more information, please visit www.terryspear.com, or follow her on Twitter, @TerrySpear. She is also on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/terry.spear.

THE GIVEAWAY

What: One commenter will win a copy of Savage Hunger (Jaguar 1) from Sourcebooks. US/CANADA ONLY

How: Answer Terry's question:

What would you do if you found a jungle cat who wasn’t all cat??

Please remember - if you don't answer the question your entry will not be counted.

You may receive additional entries by:

1) Being a Follower of The Qwillery.

2) Mentioning the giveaway on Facebook and/or Twitter. Even if you mention the giveaway on both, you will get only one additional entry. You get only one additional entry even if you mention the giveaway on Facebook and/or Twitter multiple times.

There are a total of 3 entries you may receive: Comment (1 entry), Follower (+1 entry) and Facebook and/or Twitter (+ 1 entry). This is subject to change again in the future for future giveaways.

Please leave links for Facebook or Twitter mentions. You MUST leave a way to contact you.

Who and When: The contest is open to all humans on the planet earth with a US or Canadian mailing address. Contest ends at 11:59pm US Eastern Time on Monday, November 5, 2012. Void where prohibited by law. No purchase necessary. You must be 18 years old or older to enter.

It's Monday. I hope that everyone who is dealing with Sandy is faring well. Be safe! I'm hoping that I continue to have internet. We've been told to expect long term power outages from this storm. We have a generator. The phone lines just have to stay up and I'll be able to be online. Fingers crossed. I also hope that the kids in my neighborhood get to have Halloween this year on time!

Here are the the releases for the end of October. I'll get the November list up soon. If you'd like a PDF shopping list for these titles, you may find one by clicking HERE.

Sunday, October 28, 2012

Please welcome Carolyn Crane to The Qwillery. Mr. Real (Code of Shadows 1) will be published on October 30, 2012.

TQ: Welcome back to The Qwillery:

Carolyn: Hey, thanks so much for inviting me here! Always lovely to stop by the Qwillery!!

TQ: What would you say is your most interesting writing quirk?

Carolyn: I get most of my ideas while running. I’ve learned to bring a pen and paper, because I was getting frustrated not remembering them. I’m sure I look crazy, stopping on a run, pulling out a pen (from where it is hooked on my running bra!) and paper and scribbling.

TQ: Are you a plotter or a pantser?

Carolyn: As Carolyn Crane, I’m mostly a plotter. I like to know where I’m going, at least the big swipes. The major scenes. I like to write toward known destinations, though I do take small detours. I would never write without a general destination. However, oddly, in my smutty pen name, Annika Martin, I am a total pantser.

TQ: What is the most challenging thing for you about writing?

Carolyn: Finding the time, making the most of that time. Does everybody say that? Time management! A boring but probably all too common answer!

A woman uses an occult computer program to bring a sexy spy from a TV ad to life; the actor/fighter who plays the character is not amused.

TQ: What inspired you to write Mr. Real (Code of Shadows 1) series?

Carolyn: It was one of those what-if scenarios. People so often claim character boyfriends, and I thought, what if one of them actually showed up? What would happen? And, it evolved from there.

TQ: What sort of research did you do to create your world and mythology?

Carolyn: This is set in the real world, so, it wasn’t too hard. Though I did have to research a bit about 1980’s style computers. Mostly that involved asking my most nerdy pals questions.

TQ: In Mr. Real, who was the most difficult character to write and why? The easiest and why?

Carolyn: My heroine, Alix. was the most difficult. She’s just very different from me, so it was hard to get that line right. My easiest was the secret agent, Sir Kendall. I feel like I have the total key to his mind.

Carolyn: There are a couple of villain scenes toward the end…I guess I won’t say anything more…!! There’s also a restaurant scene I really like.

TQ: What's next?

Carolyn: The Mr. Real prequel will appear in Fire & Frost in early 2013, in an anthology I’m doing with Meljean Brook and Jill Myles. And, I’m back to more traditional UF stuff with my other new series, Dark Forest.

Alix Gordon is a woman who doesn’t take life too seriously. What’s the fun in that? So when she stumbles across occult software that can bring any computer image to life, she conjures up lots of awesome outfits and accessories. And then, on one drunken, horny night, she conjures up Sir Kendall, the sexy TV ad spy . . . who looks exactly like Paul Reinhardt, the hot martial arts teacher who kicked her out of class a few years ago.

Fighter Paul Reinhardt has good reason to hate Sir Kendall, the character he brought to life to land a part in a TV ad; he’d do anything to forget him. A cross country road trip seems just the thing . . . until Paul finds himself inexplicably drawn to Minnesota and is shocked to discover Sir Kendall – in the flesh – with the girl he’d once loved from afar. He barges into Alix and Sir Kendall’s love nest, determined to stop the madness – somehow.

But is super spy Sir Kendall transforming into something more dangerous anyone can imagine? And what will Sir Kendall do when Paul and Alix finally give into their mad lust for each other?

No wager is too outrageous for Simon Fitzgerald, the most reckless of the Disillusionists. His dark secrets drive him to take increasingly extreme risks, but he’s never lived so quite so dangerously as when he hooks up with Midcity’s most powerful prognosticator.

Fawna Brady is tormented by the destinies she sees for those around her. To Fawna, knowledge of the future is a cage she’d do anything to escape. She’s stunned to discover a taste of the freedom for which she yearns at the side of Simon, the one person in the world who despises everything she is, everything she stands for.

In an attempt to put her unhappy past behind her, Justine Jones throws herself into nursing school and planning her wedding to Otto Sanchez, the man of her dreams. But something is off. Random details aren’t adding up…and is it her imagination, or are her friends and fiancé keeping secrets from her? And what’s with the strange sense of unease, and her odd new headaches?

Justine tries to stay upbeat as Midcity cowers under martial law, sleepwalking cannibals, and a mysterious rash of paranormal copycat violence, but her search for answers leads her into the most dangerous mind game yet.

With the help of unlikely allies, including her paranoid dad and best frenemy Simon, Justine fights her ultimate foe…and unravels the most startling mystery of all.

Justine Jones lived her life as a fearful hypochondriac until she was lured into the web of a mysterious mastermind named Packard, who gifts her with extraordinary mental powers—dooming her to fight Midcity’s shadowy war on paranormal crime in order to find the peace she so desperately craves.

But now serial killers with unheard-of skills are terrorizing the most powerful beings in Midcity, including mastermind Packard and his oldest friend and worst enemy, Midcity’s new mayor, who has the ability to bend matter itself to his will.

As the body count grows, Justine faces a crisis of conscience as she tests the limits of her new powers and faces an impossible choice between two flawed but brilliant men—one on a journey of redemption, the other descending into a pit of moral depravity.

Justine Jones has a secret. A hardcore hypochondriac, she’s convinced a blood vessel is about to burst in her brain. Then, out of the blue, a startlingly handsome man named Packard peers into Justine’s soul and invites her to join his private crime-fighting team. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime deal. With a little of Packard’s hands-on training, Justine can weaponize her neurosis, turning it outward on Midcity’s worst criminals, and finally get the freedom from fear she’s always craved. End of problem.

Or is it? In Midcity, a dashing police chief is fighting a unique breed of outlaw with more than human powers. And while Justine’s first missions, including one against a nymphomaniac husband-killer, are thrilling successes, there is more to Packard than meets the eye. Soon, while battling her attraction to two very different men, Justine is plunging deeper into a world of wizardry, eroticism, and cosmic secrets. With Packard’s help, Justine has freed herself from her madness—only to discover a reality more frightening than anyone’s worst fears.

Saturday, October 27, 2012

Please welcome Chris Pauls and Matt Solomon to The Qwillery as part of the 2012 Debut Author Challenge Interviews. Deck Z: The Titanic was published on October 3, 2012.

TQ: Welcome to The Qwillery!

Chris: Thanks for having us, and the scones are delicious.

TQ: What would you say is your most interesting writing quirk?

Matt: For Chris, I’d say it’s his obsessive attention to detail. We spent hours poring over Titanic deck plans—3D models, mechanical blueprints, top- and side-view cutaways—all to make sure we were as close to spot-on accurate as possible regarding the path our protagonists took while fleeing undead passengers.

Chris: For Matt, I’ll note his ability to channel characters that are far removed from his own personality. He can trot out a child or mother’s POV with equal ease, and still serve up stuff closer to home no problem. Also, he does not drink coffee.

TQ: Who are some of your favorite writers? Who do you feel has influenced your writing?

Chris: I especially enjoy John Steinbeck, Alan Moore, Raymond Chandler, and Hunter Thompson. They have all had an impact on the style I’m after.

Matt: I’ll take Neil Gaiman, Michael Chabon, and Haruki Murakami – though I’m not sure you’d see any of their influences here.

TQ: Are you a plotter or a pantser?

Matt: Definitely a plotter. In Deck Z, we followed the actual history of Titanic events as closely as possible—to the minute, in some cases. That made detailed timelines necessary to make sure our fictional plot points joined with actual events at just the right times. In writing, as in life, we do very little pantsing.

TQ: What is the most challenging thing for you about writing?

Chris: Making sure to realize everything a particular sequence has to offer as it relates to place, plot and character within the whole story.

TQ: Describe Deck Z in 140 characters or less.

When a scientist discovers a plague that turns victims into monsters, he steals the only sample and makes for America aboard Titanic.

TQ: What inspired you to write Deck Z?

Chris: Matt and I were both looking to work on something outside of humor, which we both had been doing a long time for places like The Onion. This was a high-concept idea that was a challenge not to make funny but instead try to realize as a legit piece of horror.

TQ: What sort of research did you do for Deck Z?

Matt: We did extensive research on the ship itself—its passengers and crew, the particulars of the ship’s layout and design, the class segregation, and the historical world in which our story is set. There are amazing online forums devoted to Titanic minutiae and they became a go-to resource when we needed answers to questions like “Where was the third-class linen closet located?” Because our story turns on a mutated version of the plague, we also had to dig deep to learn about disease transmission and treatment.

TQ: Who was the easiest character to write and why? Hardest and why?

Chris: I’d say J. Bruce Ismay was probably the easiest because his role in the Titanic disaster is so widely understood to be that of a near-villain. Our character of “The Agent” was the most difficult for me, because he’s cut from whole cloth and has a complicated, serious backstory that motivates his ruthlessness.

Matt: One of my favorite scenes is when our lead character, trying to steal away on the Titanic, meets a know-it-all kid on the dock who helps him with his escape. With all the mayhem aboard the ship, the humorous human moments were the ones I enjoyed most.

TQ: What's next?

Chris: We’re at work on a big story set in Richland Center, a sleepy town in Southwest Wisconsin. We’re excited about it.

TQ: Thank you for joining us at The Qwillery.

Chris: It has been our pleasure. I’m still blown away that you churn your own butter.

Matt: Chris never goes on about my butter this way.

About Deck Z: The Titanic

Deck Z: The Titanic

Chronicle Books, October 3, 2012
Trade Paperback and eBook, 222 pages

Imagine being trapped aboard the doomed Titanic on an icy Atlantic. . . with the walking dead. This fast-paced thriller reimagines the historical events of the fateful Titanic voyage through the lens of zombie mayhem. Captain Edward Smith and his inner circle desperately try to contain a weaponized zombie virus smuggled on board with the 2,200 passengers sailing to New York. Faced with an exploding population of lumbering, flesh-hungry undead, Smith’s team is forced into bloody hand-to-hand combat down the narrow halls of the huge steamer. In its few short days at sea, the majestic Titanic turns into a Victorian bloodbath, steaming at top speed toward a cold, blue iceberg. A creepy, tense pageturner, Deck Z will thrill zombie fans and Titanic buffs alike.

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In accordance with the FTC Guidelines for blogging and endorsements, The Qwillery would like everyone to know that most books that are reviewed at the The Qwillery are provided for free by the publisher or author unless otherwise noted.